Obama to disabled vets: ‘No one’s taking away your benefits’

[babylonsister]

Obama to disabled vets: ‘No one’s taking away your benefits’
By Keith Laing - 08/10/13 06:03 PM ET


President Obama touted his controversial healthcare law in a speech to disabled veterans on Saturday.

“The good news is if you’re among one of the more than 1 million veterans who don’t have health insurance, starting October 1st, you’ll have a new option," Obama said during a speech at the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Orlando, Fla.

"Online marketplaces will let you shop and compare and buy private health insurance plans, just like you can go online to compare prices when you buy a TV, or airplane ticket or a car," he continued. "And because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against you or deny you coverage."

Obama warned the disabled veterans to not be swayed by Republican attacks on his signature healthcare law.

"Don’t let them fool you," he said. "No one is taking away your benefits. Your veterans’ healthcare is safe. We’re not reducing veterans’ access to healthcare, we’re expanding it. That’s the truth."

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/316503-obama-to-disabled-veterans-no-ones-taking-away-your-benefits-with-obamacare

[MannyGoldstein]

1. IIRC, Obama's generous chained-CPI offer applies to disabled vets

Bravo!

[babylonsister]

2. Is there anything he does that you like? ANYTHING? nt

[ProSense]

3. Don't bother. A policy not enacted trumps everything Obama does. n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

5. I didn't say whether I liked it or not

Do you like it? Is it true?

[bluestate10]

11. Glad to see that you support Liz Warren for President, she would be one of the greats, IMO. nt

[mick063]

13. Hammer relentlessly Manny. I love it.

Otherwise those DLC folks will get away with it.

I'm all for making the next DLC candidate run from "entitlement" reform. We won't get there unless we beat folks over the head with it.


Unfortunately for our President, he stepped in dog doo and tracked it on the new carpet. He should have checked his feet.

[MannyGoldstein]

17. They'll run from entitlement "reform" during election season

Then sprint hard right once elected like Usain Bolt on meth.

We need to be very, very careful of who we vote for - their positions must be unambiguous and their honesty unblemished.

[mick063]

18. It boils down to track record.

A track record like Bernie Sanders or Liz Warren.

Doesn't have to be them exclusively, but someone with similar history.

In the mean time, Manny, hammer away. I'll help.

Relentlessly.

[MannyGoldstein]

19. Agreed

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. It is a fact

Chained CPI will affect me, through my husband, personally.

Deal with it

[tridim]

28. Just like thousands of dill pickles raining from the sky will affect you.

Be careful out there.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. so you are telling me

Last edited Mon Aug 12, 2013, 06:59 PM - Edit history (1)

That my husband is not a 20 year disabled USN veteran? Or that chained cpi will also apply to military retirees?

Denial is not just a river in Egypt . And you are blinded by a cult

Next i will hear my sister was not affected by the Sequester either

Obama is a pol. Like all of them...i expect him to lie

[tridim]

30. There are no raining pickles.

There is no chained CPI.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. it has been proposed repeteadly

explain to the class why if there is no intent?

[tridim]

32. And has been predicted as a done deal by neo-DU every time, yet...

No chained-CPI.

No pickles either.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. And until this is off the table

those of us who will be DIRECTLY affected, will not breath easy.

Capice?

[Recursion]

9. Jesus Fucking Christ, Manny

"Look, here's a flower without some shit on it!"

[bluestate10]

12. I can't agree with ten words that Manny write on any given day. But he fights for the things that

he believes in. I think that Manny's values are sound and ultimately what should be done in a just society, but his sense of how to gain those values is misdirected, IMO. All in all, I take it with a grain of salt and move on.

[JaneyVee]

34. Isn't the my way or the highway shtick a bit authoritarian...and smug though?

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. You are correct

It applies to all vets

[MotherPetrie]

27. K&R

[JaneyVee]

35. You mean the one that he knew had no chance in hell but got him re-elected?

[spanone]

4. k&r...

[Grateful for Hope]

6. K&R

[Sotf]

7. It's all in how you look at it...

[Cha]

22. What do you mean by that? Seems plain to me.. they're not losing

their benefits.. they're getting expanded. End of story.

[sheshe2]

8. K&R!

[JayhawkSD]

10. Wait a minute...

His reassurance to disabled vets is that they will be able to buy health insurance?!?!!

What happened, if you are disabled, to the VA medical system?!?!!

"We're not taking away your veterans' healthcare" because you can buy health insurance like everybody else does?!?!!

Veterans' healthcare is free as a benefit of lifetime service, and he's talking about veterans buying health insurance on his precious "online marketplaces." Either he has no idea what he's talking about, or he is doing a very poor job of spinning bullshit.

[bluestate10]

14. The Obama Administration has made restoration of the VA a priority. Same as it does for

housing for homeless veterans. The Administration has done a sound job of addressing decades of neglect. There is the issue of the benefits backlog, but I have faith that this Administration is working on fixing that problem and those efforts will bear fruit. On the backlog, my approach would be to have veterans spend the last two weeks of their service exclusively focusing on their benefit packages and when those people walk out of the service, they have benefits hat start immediately, with no wait at all - if this is done the backlog will stop growing and the VA will be able to attack the existing backlog.

[pinboy3niner]

16. It threw me, because VA-eligible vets are exempt from the ACA

After 4-1/2 years in the service (1-1/2 years of them in an Army hospital) I was retired for partial disability, enough for the VA to classify me as 'Priority 1'. All of my VA health care, including prescriptions, is free.

That's why it seemed strange to hear the President touting the ACA to disabled vets. Of course, he was talking about a small minority of vets--the more than 1 million who don't have health insurance (and who don't qualify for VA care). Disabled vets who do have VA care just seems the wrong audience for making that point.

[Lee-Lee]

24. Yeah, that confused me too

I am 20% service connected, and when looking at starting my own business the fact that I was ACA exempt was part of the math.

Any vet disabled due to service is ACA exempt unless they just haven't filed for VA care/rating.

Odd pitch to make.

[JayhawkSD]

21. Yeah. nice sales pitch on Obama

But I was commenting on what he said. His words. The sentences that he uttered to veterans in that patricular speech.

He said that "we're not taking away your benefits" and then launched into a sales pitch for the ACA, and I'm asking what the hell the ACA has to do with veterans' healthcare benefits.

Instead of reflexively launching into paens of praise for our beloved leader, try listening to what he is actually saying.

There is much to be said in behalf of Obama, and would never say he has been a bad president, but his speeches are sometimes terribly tone deaf, and this was one of them. Speaking to veterans and saying what he did the way he said it was guaranteed to piss off a lot of veterans, because it came across as allowing veterans to purchase health insurance on exchanges instead of the free health care they were promised. I know he is on a tour to sell the ACA to the public, but a gathering of veterans is probably not the best place to do it.

[tammywammy]

15. Veteran's healthcare isn't changing.

Another article for you:

Obamacare and veterans, a website

Veterans receiving health care from the the Department of Veteran Affairs won't be seeing any changes in their benefits or out-of-pocket costs under the national health reform, but there may be opportunities for family members, according to a VA news release Tuesday.

The new website is www.va.gov/aca. You can also call 1-877-222-VETS (8387), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. or Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m, Central time.

"Even if you are covered by your VA health care enrollment, your family members who are not enrolled in a VA health care program should use the (Health Insurance) Marketplace to get coverage," the website says. "They may get lower costs on monthly premiums or out-of-pocket costs."

More than 1.3 million veterans and more than 950,000 spouses and children of veterans are without health insurance. Most uninsured veterans are eligible for VA health care. Veterans not on VA health care can apply any time by visiting www.va.gov/healthbenefits/enroll, calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387) or visiting a VA facility.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/08/obamacare_and_veterans_a_websi.html

[freshwest]

20. K&R

[Scurrilous]

23. K & R